Sporting appeal to women

Following the recent launch of This Girl Can — a Sport England campaign aimed at empowering more women aged 14 to 40 to participate in sport and be more physically active — South Yorkshire Sport is introducing an eight-week campaign to tackle the gender imbalance in coaching and volunteering.

Research by Sports Coach UK carried out in 2013 shows that only 31 per cent of coaches are female with just 18 per cent of these female coaches holding recognised coaching qualifications.

It also highlights that girls-only sessions are an effective way to engage teenage girls in sport but female coaches and volunteers are needed to lead these activities and inspire girls to take part.

Sports volunteering is made up of approximately 61 per cent men and 39 per cent women with men often recruited from within clubs and from ex-participants, highlighting the need for more female participants to develop the workforce long-term.

Nigel Harrison, chief executive, South Yorkshire Sport, said: “There is a massive disparity between the number of male and female coaches in sport and that is something we're aiming to tackle in South Yorkshire.

“There's great satisfaction to be had from coaching and volunteering whether you're involved at a local club or part of a volunteer group at a major event. There will be women out there feeling empowered by This Girl Can and wanting to get involved anyway they can and we hope this opportunity will enable them to do so.”

If you are female, aged 16 or over and want to help inspire women and girls to take part in sport, complete the short online form at www.sysport.co.uk/TGCI or contact South Yorkshire Sport on 0114 2235674 or [email protected]